DocumentCode
787629
Title
Improvement of electrical and reliability properties of tantalum pentoxide by high-density plasma (HDP) annealing in N2O
Author
Chang, S.J. ; Lee, J.S. ; Chen, J.F. ; Sun, S.C. ; Liu, C.H. ; Liaw, U.H. ; Huang, B.R.
Author_Institution
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Nat. Cheng Kung Univ., Tainan, Taiwan
Volume
23
Issue
11
fYear
2002
Firstpage
643
Lastpage
645
Abstract
This study aims to improve the electrical characteristics and reliability of low-pressure chemical vapor deposited (LPCVD) tantalum pentoxide (Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/) films by a new post-deposition annealing technique using high-density plasma (HDP). Experimental results indicate that excited oxygen atoms generated by N/sub 2/O decomposition from HDP annealing can effectively reduce the carbon and hydrogen impurity concentrations and repair the oxygen vacancies in the as-deposited CVD Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/ film, thereby resulting in a remarkable reduction of the film´s leakage current. Two other post-deposition annealing conditions are compared: HDP O/sub 2/ annealing and conventional plasma O/sub 2/ annealing. The comparison reveals that HDP N/sub 2/O annealing has the lowest leakage current and superior time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) reliability.
Keywords
CVD coatings; MIM structures; MOS capacitors; annealing; dielectric thin films; impurities; integrated circuit reliability; leakage currents; nitrogen compounds; plasma materials processing; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device reliability; tantalum compounds; C; C impurity concentration reduction; CMOS technology scaling; H; H impurity concentration reduction; HDP N/sub 2/O annealing; HDP O/sub 2/ annealing; LPCVD Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/ films; MIM structures; N/sub 2/O; N/sub 2/O decomposition; TDDB reliability; Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/; chemical vapor deposited films; electrical characteristics; excited O atoms; high-density plasma; leakage current reduction; low-pressure CVD films; metal-insulator-metal structures; oxygen vacancies; planar capacitors; post-deposition annealing technique; reliability characteristics; time-dependent dielectric breakdown reliability; ultrathin gate dielectric film; Annealing; Atomic layer deposition; Chemical vapor deposition; Dielectric breakdown; Electric variables; Hydrogen; Impurities; Leakage current; Plasma chemistry; Plasma properties;
fLanguage
English
Journal_Title
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
Publisher
ieee
ISSN
0741-3106
Type
jour
DOI
10.1109/LED.2002.805029
Filename
1097939
Link To Document